


Two Sides (of the same coin)

by Superfluous_Symphony



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Blood and Injury, Falling In Love, Getting Together, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Making Love, Police, mafia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:33:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27944603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Superfluous_Symphony/pseuds/Superfluous_Symphony
Summary: When the most powerful man in Seoul comes across an injured man in the rain, against his better judgement he tends to him. In doing this, Seonghwa unknowingly helps someone who, by all definitions, is his enemy.There's always two sides to every story. A mafia boss is not always out for blood. A detective does not always see criminals as perpetually violent individuals.This is the story of how two extreme opposites come together as one.
Relationships: Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 17
Kudos: 153





	1. The Finding

**Author's Note:**

> hey uhh it's me again
> 
> i'm going to try and do a multi chaptered story. hopefully y'all can keep me on track and not let me forget to update this lol.
> 
> tw // non-con is implied in this chapter. be warned and proceed with caution.

The rain was cold and relentless as it battered down on Seonghwa's umbrella. His assistant, Yunho, was holding the umbrella for him as the two of them walked solemnly down the street, having just recently finished up a meeting with one of their intelligence agents. 

"Remind me again why we are walking? Don't we have designated drivers for these kinds of occasions?" Yunho asked offhandedly. Seonghwa closed his eyes as if deep in thought. He waited a moment before responding simply, "I like the rain." 

Yunho huffed but didn't press the issue any further. The day was dark and dreary. There were not many people out and about due to the rain, and Yunho suspects that fact might also play a role in his boss wanting to take a stroll outside. Usually they have to be a bit more discreet with where they're going and who they're with due to their tricky line of work.

Being the most powerful mob boss in all of Seoul must have its drawbacks, Yunho mused. 

He glanced up at his boss and studied his profile. Seonghwa was gorgeous, that much Yunho was well aware of. He had a slim face and sharp features. His eyes were big and dark, like a faraway galaxy. He had defined eyebrows and black hair, darker than midnight. Yunho may or may not have had a crush on his boss at one point in time. Of course he would never speak of that out loud. 

They were about halfway back to their home building when they passed by an alleyway and the two froze in tandem. A noise had caught both of their attentions and it seemed to have come from the alleyway that they were currently standing in front of. Normally Seonghwa wouldn't pay any mind to the hardships that the citizens of the city got themselves into. 

That's why it caught Yunho completely by surprise when Seonghwa moved to walk into the alleyway. Yunho's brain caught up with himself just in time to move quickly behind his boss, making sure they continued to stay under the umbrella and out of the rain. Yunho knew better than to question his boss in situations like these, so he chose to remain silent and simply observe. 

As they grew closer to the source of the noise, the pair recognized the sound as a person groaning, as if in pain. Yunho gulped, afraid of what they might come across. "Flashlight." Seonghwa murmured. Yunho flinched before quickly grabbing the small device from his coat pocket. At Seonghwa's behest, Yunho shined the light downward, and what he saw was truly terrifying.

It was a man, beaten and bloodied almost beyond recognition. His blonde hair was covered with a mix of dirt, blood and something else that Yunho didn't want to think of. His right arm appeared broken, with his elbow twisted in a way that should not have been humanly possible. His clothes were in tatters, his shirt torn to shreds, his pants discarded who knows where. There were multiple bruises and cuts lining the inside of his thighs. It didn't take a genius to surmise what had happened to this man. 

Yunho held his breath as Seonghwa examined the man below him. This was highly unusual behavior from his boss. Normally Seonghwa wouldn't even bother to care about anybody that wasn't on his direct team. 

He ran his business with a strict, no nonsense attitude and if some people ended up getting hurt or killed along the way, then so be it. Yunho had never known his superior to show any sort of kindness, let alone any kind of attention, to random civilians. 

After what felt like an eternity, Seonghwa motioned Yunho to crouch down near the man. He had stopped groaning a moment ago, likely passed out due to his injuries. "Start tending to the more severe wounds. I am going to call a car." Seonghwa stated coolly. 

Yunho's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. Were they really going to treat this random stranger's injuries? What was his boss thinking?

However, as if on instinct, Yunho got to work following his superior's orders. He grabbed the man's shredded shirt and ripped off a chunk of the fabric to wrap around his broken arm in a makeshift splint. Seonghwa stepped away to call a car to their location. Yunho's mind was boggled. There had to be some underlying reason as to why his boss, usually cold and calculating, was suddenly acting like he cared for someone else in this manner.

Yunho was careful of the man's broken limb as he carefully situated his arm in such a way that it was less likely to jostle during transport. He then grabbed a tissue from his inner jacket pocket to start wiping off as much of the dirt and dried blood from the man's face as he could. 

It took only a matter of seconds for Seonghwa to finish his call and step back towards the pair. "San is on his way." He stated simply. 

Yunho nodded to show that he had heard as he continued diligently wiping off the man's face. Soon enough, Yunho was able to get a better look at the man underneath the sludge. 

The first thing that Yunho noticed was that he was pretty. He had defined features, a sharp nose and prominent brows. Yunho felt sorry that this man had to endure whatever torture befell him. After deeming his job complete, Yunho moved back on his haunches and gently lifted the man into his arms bridal style, the umbrella long forgotten in all the commotion.

Not even a minute later, a black sedan was pulling up on the street directly in front of the alleyway. Seonghwa motioned for Yunho to follow him as they headed towards their vehicle. After some struggling, Yunho finally managed to get himself and the man safely into the back seat of the car while Seonghwa took the front seat for himself. 

"Head to the warehouse on 37th Street." He told San. The driver nodded and took off towards their destination promptly. The car was eerily quiet as they sped down the road, rain still pattering against the windshield. 

Yunho couldn't take his eyes off of the man's face. Now that he was unconscious, his features were no longer contorted in pain. He looked serene. He really was quite pretty. Before Yunho could think about the man's face any longer, the body in his hands began to shiver. 

"Hey." Seonghwa's voice cut through the air and made Yunho jump slightly. "U-uh, yes boss?" He replied, hoping his boss didn't notice his wimpy stutter.

"Here." A long, black coat was pushed to the back seat. Seonghwa's coat. When had he taken it off? Yunho floundered for a second before he realized what it was for. He then grabbed the coat and covered the man's nearly naked body, hoping that it provided him with some much needed warmth.

Seonghwa didn't bother turning around to check on the pair after that, choosing instead to simply stare out at the road ahead. A few minutes passed before the car was pulling up to the gate of the warehouse. 

San whipped out his phone and, after a few clicks, the gate began to open automatically. The car slowly pulled into the now open warehouse and the door immediately began to shut behind them once they were past a certain threshold. 

The warehouse was enormous. It was mostly empty, save for a few storage boxes in each corner of the room. The boxes likely held extra ammunition and weapons in case the gang needed to use this building as a makeshift hideout. 

Once the car had come to a complete stop, Seonghwa was the first to open his door and get out, moving toward the center of the room. San tilted his head curiously, but got out and helped Yunho move the man over to where Seonghwa was currently setting up a makeshift bed, complete with blankets and pillows that he pulled out of God knows where. 

As Yunho and San were trying to situate the man as comfortably as possible, Seonghwa pulled a stray hair from the man's head and handed it to Yunho. "Take this and run a DNA search on everyone we have in our database. Report back to me at once with what you find out."

Yunho nodded. He took the hair and stood up to run back to the car and hopped in to make his way over to their nearest laboratory. San eyed his boss warily. Seonghwa was eerily quiet as he stood watching over San as he finished situating the man as best as he could so as not to aggravate any of his injuries. "Um, are we just going to sit here until Yunho comes back?" He asked after a moment. 

"You don't have to. However, I will." Seonghwa replied simply. San let out a quiet sigh. Well, if his boss was going to just sit here with this random dude he figured he needed to as well, just as a safety precaution. 

So there they sat. Not ten minutes later and Yunho was driving through the doors of the warehouse once more. San was itching to find out who this guy was that his boss seemed to care so deeply for. 

San's excitement was diminished slightly as he saw Yunho's grave expression once he exited the vehicle. That couldn't be good.

"Report." Seonghwa stated coldly. Yunho gulped and held up a printed out report to read from. 

"Name: Kim Hongjoong. Age: 25 years. Ethnicity: South Korean. Occupation: Lead Detective for the Seoul Police Department."


	2. The Extraction

When Hongjoong woke up he was alone. He groaned as he tried to open his eyes under the bright florescent light above him. Where the hell was he? His body ached as he tried to sit up from the cold concrete ground below him. 

He yelped when he put pressure on his right arm. Struggling, he craned his stiff neck down and saw that his arm had been put in a splint, albeit a cruddy one. He must have broken it. 

With some difficulty, he finally managed to sit up and take a look around. He appeared to be in some sort of warehouse. A splitting headache made it tough to keep his eyes open for prolonged periods of time. He brought his good arm up to rub at his temples. 

He didn't have time to figure out where he was or how he got there. The only thing he needed to do now was to get to the hospital. 

As he searched his body for his cell phone however, he noticed that his clothes were gone and that he was nearly nude. The only thing that was covering him was a long black coat. It smelled nice, like expensive cologne. 

Looking around, he found the remnants of his clothes piled next a crate on the left side of the room. He didn't think he could stand up just yet, so he tried scooting over to where his clothes were laid out. 

He hoped that his cell phone had made it through whatever the hell he had been through. He had absolutely no memory of what happened or how he got here. 

Unfortunately his cell phone was nowhere to be found. However, he did find a small communicator device hidden in the folds of his tattered shirt. Curious, he grabbed it and played with it, trying to turn it on. Eventually he did find the power button, and what he saw when it sprung to life surprised him.

It was essentially a tiny phone, with only one option to call out to a preset number loaded into the system. There was not a dial pad to dial any other phone number. Luckily though, Hongjoong recognized the preset number easily.

He pressed the dial key and the waited, listening to the ringing sound echoing through the tinny speaker on the device. After just two rings, somebody picked up.

"Seoul Police Department, how may I help you?"

"This is Detective Kim Hongjoong, I need someone to trace the signal on this device that I'm calling from and then I need an extraction. Can you get me to someone to assist?" 

Without another word, the operator put him on hold to transfer him to the correct department. After another ten seconds or so, the line picked up again.

"Detective Song." Came the deep voice from the other side.

"Mingi, it's Hongjoong. Listen, I don't have a lot of time to explain, but I need your help."

/////

About two and a half hours later and Hongjoong found himself laying in a hospital bed. As soon as he had told Mingi what he knew, the younger detective immediately got to work tracing his signal to find out where he was.

Hongjoong discovered that he had been at a supposedly abandoned warehouse down by the wharf. When Mingi arrived, it had taken some effort to get the gate open, but they managed to do it. 

Now alone in his hospital bed, Hongjoong was trying to rack his brain to remember what had happened to him. The last thing he remembered was that he was walking home from work and the skies looked ready to pour. He couldn't remember actually feeling any rain, though.

Somehow, he must have blacked out soon after that and the next thing he remembered was waking up in that warehouse. He gritted his teeth and scoffed, his good hand bunching up the blanket underneath him in anger.

What the hell had happened to him? There was no way that this was self-inflicted. Someone had definitely jumped him. But who? And why? 

He was frustrated. He couldn't just let this slide. When he got out of the hospital, he promised that he was going to everything in his power to hunt down whoever did this to him and bring them to justice.

/////

"Looks like the communicator was used, Boss." Yunho said, walking over to show the readings from the now activated device to Seonghwa.

"Good. He should be taken care of now." Seonghwa stated simply before directing his gaze back down at the paperwork on his desk. 

Yunho nodded, but didn't walk away immediately. It had been weighing on his mind hard ever since they had gotten back to their main operations building. He shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other. He figured there would be no better time to bring it up.

He cleared his throat, "So, uh, why did we go through all that trouble to help that detective? Don't you think he's gonna look into this and maybe trace the device back to us? Aren't you nervous about what they're gonna do if they find us?"

Seonghwa paused his paperwork once more and glanced up at his partner, eyes glazed over and a bit droopy as if fighting off sleep. "I'm not worried about that, Yunho. Simply put, the reason I decided to help him was that I felt it was only the right thing to do." 

And with that, Seonghwa waved him off, signifying that he was done speaking to him. Yunho huffed, but ultimately conceded and left the office.

As soon as he shut the door behind him, San was up in his face. "So, what did he say?" Yunho flinched at the sudden intrusion into his bubble, but quickly recovered. "He just said that it was the right thing to do." San groaned.

"Ugh, lame. I totally thought it was because the guy was cute and he wanted to play the hero so he could get to know him or some junk." Yunho laughed, "Yeah right, as if that thought would ever cross Seonghwa's mind."

As San and Yunho's voices began to fade down the hallway, Seonghwa sighed and leaned back in his chair. He stared up at the ceiling, mind blank and fuzzy as he recalled the day's earlier events.

If he was being completely honest with himself, he truly did not know what had compelled him to help the man in the alleyway. Normally, he would simply walk on by and let another Good Samaritan find and rescue him. 

But there was just something about that man. Seonghwa couldn't put his finger on it. He had even pushed some limits with leaving a communicator device with him. However, he knew that he couldn't stick around until the man woke up. He couldn't risk having his identity and occupation revealed to the public, let alone the police.

Seonghwa scratched his head, tugging at this midnight hair roughly. He huffed and flipped on his computer, awakening it from sleep mode. It lit up with the same screen that he had left it at. 

Their database entry for Hongjoong had most of his personal information, even going so far as to have his address and phone number listed. In his line of business, having good tabs on a lot of people gave him an advantage. 

It also had a picture attached to the file. It appeared to be the photo that was used for his badge at the police department. His hair was a dirty blonde shade and slightly curly. His nose was small and sharp, and his eyes appeared determined. 

Seonghwa stared at the photo for way longer than he should have. 

He let out a loud groan. He was so fucked.


	3. The Lunch Date

It's been three weeks since Hongjoong was discharged from the hospital and he was no closer to finding his attackers than the day it happened. He let out a frustrated sigh at his desk, tugging on his hair harshly. 

Mingi walked up at that moment and whistled lowly, "Wow, still no luck?" He set down a small coffee on Hongjoong's desk, which the detective was eternally grateful for. "Not even close." He mumbled, taking a sip of the hot caffeinated beverage which seemed to lift his mood, if only a little. 

"Maybe you're going about this all wrong." Mingi suggested. Hongjoong whipped around and glared at his friend. Mingi flinched and hurried to backtrack a little bit, "What I mean is, you've been trying to find these people when you have absolutely no information to go off of. You don't remember their faces, what they were wearing or any of that. But you know what you do have?"

The red haired detective smirked and nodded towards the small communicator that had been sitting on Hongjoong's desk ever since he got back to work. Hongjoong eyeballed it warily. "To be honest, I didn't think I would find anything with that. Like, yeah it's an incredible piece of technology. However, I would assume that it also has a crazy security system in place so as not to be able to trace it back to its whereabouts."

Mingi smiled wide, "True, but you do know the world's smartest tech wizard. I bet he could help us!" Before Hongjoong could think about replying, Mingi reached over and snatched the communicator off of his desk. "Hey! Wait!" Hongjoong called after his friend, who had already made a beeline down the hall towards the IT department.

A minute of walking later led Hongjoong to the desk of Mingi's longtime friend Jongho. He was the head of the department's IT infrastructure network and security data. By the time Hongjoong made it over to Jongho's desk, Mingi had already finished explaining what the device was and what they needed from it.

"That shouldn't be a problem. Give me a few hours to tinker with it and I'll give you call with what I find out." Jongho smiled, already playing with the device in his hands. Mingi glanced up and Hongjoong and grinned, "See, what did I tell you? Jongho will have this baby cracked in no time!"

Hongjoong sighed but turned and bowed to Jongho, "Thanks for your help with this." He said sincerely. "

"Don't worry about it. Mingi filled me in on what happened to you. I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Hongjoong." Jongho set the device down gingerly and regarded his peer sympathetically. 

Hongjoong straightened up and gave him a sad smile. He still couldn't really talk about what happened since he still had no memory of it, but just the thought of someone taking advantage of him like that made his blood boil. He was by no means weak, but just the fact that he was caught way off guard like that makes him feel bad for himself.

Sensing the shift in the room's mood, Mingi cleared his throat theatrically and stretched his arms out in front him, "Ah, well now that that's done. We should take a break and get some lunch, right Hongjoong?"

The blonde regarded him suspiciously, but nodded. He could really used some food, now that he thought about it.

There was a small café just down the block from the police station that Hongjoong and Mingi frequented often. The pair made the short walk from their building down the road to the restaurant, enjoying the beautiful spring weather on their way.

As soon as they had entered and had sat down to give their drink order, Hongjoong felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. A chill racked his body. His eyes began to dart around wildly.

He was being watched.

Mingi noticed his friend's strange behavior and asked, "Are you alright?" When Hongjoong couldn't see anything out of the ordinary in their immediate surroundings, he willed himself to calm down and reply. "Yeah...yeah I'm fine." 

As their lunch date progressed, Hongjoong still couldn't shake the feeling that someone, or something, was still watching him. 

/////

Yunho loved warm weather. Yunho also loved good food. It was those two reasons that had brought him here to this quaint café that someone at work had mentioned to him had amazing food. 

He sat in a booth by himself, humming happily while perusing the menu. Being in his line of work, Yunho always had his guard up, even while he was supposed to be relaxing. He made mental notes of every movement in his peripheral vision and he made sure to keep tabs on everyone in the restaurant. 

As such, it was no surprise that his eyes immediately darted over to the entrance when it opened and two men walked in. Yunho's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when he recognized one of the men that had just walked in. 

Quickly, Yunho retrieved his phone from his pocket and sneakily snapped a photo of the man as soon as he was seated at a booth a few feet in front of him. He sent the photo to his boss immediately with the following caption:

"You'll never guess who just walked into this establishment." 

/////

Seonghwa was just getting out of a long shower when he heard his phone buzz on the bathroom counter. He figured it was just one of his guys updating him on a mission that he really didn't need to be updated on, so he delayed opening the message or even seeing who it was from.

Once Seonghwa had dressed and fixed his hair, he finally picked up his phone to check who was contacting him. He saw the message was from Yunho and his brows raised a little. He opened the message and his eyes widened at what he saw.

The detective was there. Kim Hongjoong. From the slightly blurry picture that Yunho had taken, Seonghwa could make out that he was wearing a dark suit and slim tie. His hair looked soft and was slightly curly. He was sitting across from someone else at the booth. 

Not wanting to seem desperate, Seonghwa simply replied with. "Keep him in your line of sight. Report back if anything happens." He then shut his screen off and tossed his phone on his couch. His brows furrowed. What was he doing? He felt like a high school kid with a crush asking his friend to spy on him. 

He really needed to gain his composure back and fast. Just from this one picture his heart rate had picked up slightly. He pinched the bridge of his nose. He needed to give this up. He would never be able to have Hongjoong in the way he truly wanted.

But he knew deep down that he couldn't let go so easily.

/////

Yunho chuckled quietly at his boss's response. Since he was basically Seonghwa's right hand man, he was around the man way more often than any of their underlings were. The people farther down the food chain respected Seonghwa greatly. Some were terrified of him and the power he held.

Deep down, Yunho knew that Seonghwa was a kind soul. This business was thrusted into his hands at an early age and Seonghwa had no choice at the time but to adapt and thrive. Seonghwa put on a convincing façade when addressing the people who worked for him.

But honestly, Yunho knew that this was not a life that Seonghwa was very committed to.   
In the past few weeks, Yunho had gathered a bit more information on who Kim Hongjoong was and what he really meant to his boss. Now, Yunho deduced that it currently was nothing more than a simple crush.

Which is why Seonghwa's cold response to his picture had him chuckling. He was still trying to put on this bad ass persona of the big scary mafia boss that the majority of people made him out to be. The fact he was still acting this way towards Yunho was interesting, to say the least. 

30 minutes later, both Yunho and Hongjoong (plus his friend) had finished eating and were attempting to pay. Yunho plucked his phone up again and typed out one more message to his boss. "He's leaving. Do you want me to do anything else?"

Not fifteen seconds later and Yunho's phone was buzzing in his hand. "Tail him. But don't be weird about it." Yunho grinned and put his phone back in his pocket. 

Unbeknownst to his boss, he was going to do a little more than just tail him. He wanted to see his boss happy for once, so he was planning on taking matters into his own hands.


	4. The Introduction

"Mmh, that was good!" Mingi stretched his arms above his head, basking in the warm sun of the mid-afternoon. Hongjoong nodded weakly. He still couldn't shake the fear that someone was watching them.

As they made their way back towards the police department, there was a sudden shift in the air that had Hongjoong's hair standing on end. He stopped dead in his tracks, Mingi caught off guard and nearly tripping over himself to stop as well. "What the-"

Hongjoong shushed him sharply. He looked around in front of them and to each side carefully. He squinted, bracing himself as he quickly whipped around to see a man standing directly behind them. 

Mingi flinched when he turned as well, obviously not expecting that they would have company. The man was tall, Hongjoong noted. Really tall. As tall as Mingi. He had dark brown hair and dark eyes that seemed to glint with a hint of mischief. A small smirk graced the man's features. 

"Hello." The man said simply. "Who the hell are you and why are you following us?" Hongjoong snapped. He really didn't have the time or energy to play games with this stranger. He was eager to get a progress update from Jongho. 

The man's smile widened. "Kim Hongjoong, right?" Mingi's eyes widened as he glanced at his partner curiously. "Do you know him?" He asked. Hongjoong shook his head slowly, "No, I don't. Are you stalking me?" He asked warily. 

"Nope! I just happened to be eating at the same cafe as you two just a moment ago. I figured I would come introduce myself as a courtesy." The man bowed slightly. "My name is Yunho. I have a request that I want to ask of you." He nodded towards Hongjoong, who visibly tensed up. 

"Whatever it is, I refuse. You better stop following us or I will arrest you for stalking." Hongjoong bristled as he turned on his heel to leave. 

"What if I said I could help find the men who attacked you?"

At this Hongjoong froze. Mingi was looking between the two of them wildly, extreme curiosity and caution in his features. Hongjoong slowly turned around once more. "How the fuck do you know about that?"

Yunho's smile dimmed, but still remained on his face. "Let's just say I know some people. So will you help me with my request or not?" 

Hongjoong eyeballed the man very closely, scrutinizing every little detail about the man and committing it all to memory. Just in case. 

After a few seconds, Hongjoong eased up some of the tension in his shoulders and gave a curt nod. "Fine. But just know that I am going to have to be able to keep tabs on you at all times. It's only fair."

Yunho nodded, "Fair enough!" Hongjoong then turned to Mingi and addressed him directly. "Go back and see what Jongho has managed to figure out. You can shoot me a message with the update." 

Mingi's mouth opened in surprise, "Wait, you can't actually be serious about this right? You don't have any idea who this guy is! He could be a serial killer for all you know! Hell, he could even be one of the attackers!" Yunho looked a little hurt at that accusation, but remained silent.

"I know what I'm doing, Mingi. I'm not going to ever let my guard down again. I'll be ready for anything." He gave a look that pleaded to Mingi not to push the issue any further. He was desperate to get some answers, and this was the only lead he had found thus far.

Mingi glanced between the two of them once more before finally conceding with a theatrical sigh. "Fine, I'll let you know what we find out. Just keep me updated as well, okay?" Hongjoong nodded and moved to hug his friend. "Don't worry, I will."

With that, Mingi turned to head back to the police station as Hongjoong was led away by Yunho. Hongjoong was determined to bring his attackers to justice, and this was just the first step.

/////

"The operation was a success, by all technicalities." The operative stated, very obviously trying not to let his nervousness show in his voice. 

"Yes, I suppose that's true." Seonghwa drawled, not bothering to spare the man a single glance. "However, one of your team members was severely injured and is now in the hospital. Which could expose his identity and trace him back here." 

"Not to mention," Seonghwa stood now, his voice raising slightly. "You only managed to get the barest amount of information regarding the arrival of the target and even that is flimsy at best!" The operative tried not to cower, now directly beneath Seonghwa as the boss towered over him. 

"The circumstances wouldn't allow for anything other than what we were able to get!" The man exclaimed, no longer caring about raising his voice to his superior. "You wouldn't even know since you weren't there! When was the last time you were in the field? I bet all you do is just sit up here all day and fu-"

The sound of the gunshot echoed eerily throughout the silent room. The man was too in shock to feel the pain in his shin immediately, but once the pain set in he let out an agonizing scream. 

He fell to the ground hard, clutching his leg and continuing to cry out. Seonghwa regarded him coldly, moving to put his pistol back into the holster underneath his coat. "You will not fail me in this matter again. Do not speak to me any more. Any information you have to relay to me will go through the proper channels. Leave now." 

The man grimaced but eventually managed to drag himself out of the room, leaving a cooling pool of blood in his wake. Seonghwa sighed once he was alone once more. He brought his phone up and punched in the all too familiar number. 

"San, send someone to Meeting Room 3 for bio hazard cleanup." He spoke into the receiver, voice devoid of any emotion. San replied with an affirmative and ended the call promptly. 

Seonghwa stood motionless for a few brief moments before his phone lit up with an incoming call. He looked and found that it was Yunho calling him. He hadn't had any communication with Yunho since he had sent him that picture of the detective in the cafe earlier. He was a bit nervous, to say the least.

Steeling himself, he answered his phone and put on his coolest tone of voice. "Yunho. Status?" 

The first thing he heard on the other line was Yunho humming cheerily. Well then, it couldn't be all that bad. Seonghwa's muscles relaxed a little at the happy noise. "Boss! You'll never guess who's coming back with me to the office!"

At that statement, Seonghwa immediately went rigid again. Yunho knew full well that guests were not permitted into the main building. "Yunho." He stated firmly. "Who do you have with you?" Seonghwa was almost afraid to find out, but he had a sinking feeling he might know who it was. 

"It's Hongjoong! He said he would come back and meet you! I know, I know you don't have to thank me. I was just doing my duty in ensuring that-" Yunho's voice trailed off as Seonghwa's ears began to feel like they were being stuffed with cotton. Without another word, he quickly ended the call and ran over to his office. 

This was going to be an interesting afternoon.

/////

"Hey! I never agreed to meet anyone! You only promised to help me find the men who attacked me." Hongjoong huffed angrily from the back seat. After the line cut, which Yunho was fully expecting, he dropped his phone back in his pocket and glanced back at his passenger through his rear view mirror.

"Of course, and I promise you I will tell you everything I know. But the man you're going to meet probably knows way more than I do. I think you'll enjoy him." Hongjoong's eyes narrowed but he didn't say any more. 

After Yunho had pulled into the parking garage and parked, he got out of the driver's seat and swiftly opened the back door for Hongjoong to exit. The detective nodded to acknowledge his action, which was probably all the thanks he was going to get, Yunho mused.

Hongjoong had made mental maps of where they were along the way here. He knew that this area of the city held many office buildings, but they all seemed very generic and not worth ever looking into. He wasn't exactly sure what company this building belonged to. 

Nerves began settling in his stomach as he rode with Yunho up the elevator to the 50th floor, the highest floor in the building. When the elevator doors opened, they revealed a single hallway leading down towards two glass double doors. Hongjoong swallowed and steeled himself as Yunho led the way.

He couldn't let his guard down. He had to remember every little detail about this place, about these people. He was determined, and nothing was going to get in his way. 

Stepping into the large room on the other side of the glass doors, Hongjoong was met with a relatively minimalist looking office. For as large as the room was, there wasn't much furniture. There was a single black couch on the left side walking in.

The only other furniture was a large mahogany desk with two black leather seats in front of it. Behind the desk was a sinister looking man. His dark hair covered half his face and his eyes seemed to tell tales of misery and pain. Hongjoong straightened himself out as Yunho approached the man behind the desk.

"Hey Boss! I know you were just dying to meet Hongjoong, so I brought him here!" Hongjoong eyed Yunho at that remark. Why would this man be dying to meet him? The man closed his eyes and exhaled through his nose.

"Yunho, you know as well as I do that there were plenty of better ways to go about doing this. I'm sure the detective would have liked to meet us under his own circumstances on his own time." The man said coolly. 

Hongjoong regarded the man in front of him. "Yeah? And just what makes you think that I wanted to ever meet with you assholes in the first place?" He spit. Yunho, sensing that tensions might be beginning to rise, made to exit the office but the man stopped him.

"No, stay here Yunho. You brought him to me, so you get to sit in on our first meeting." Yunho gulped but nodded, moving to sit on the couch on the opposite side of the room. The man then turned back to Hongjoong, extending a hand to him politely.

"Please excuse the intrusion, detective. My name is Park Seonghwa, and it is a pleasure to meet you."


	5. The Confrontation

"Let's cut right to the chase detective. I'm not sure what all Yunho has told you with regards to the information I possess, but I will do my best to ensure that justice is dealt swiftly for your utmost peace of mind." Seonghwa stated calmly. 

Hongjoong crossed his arms, holding back a wince as his previously broken arm still caused him some pain. "Wait. Hold on. Just how are you two involved in my case? How do you know anything about it when I never officially reported it to the police? Only my closest colleagues know about what happened to me. Who the fuck are you people?"

Seonghwa glanced over Hongjoong's shoulder and locked eyes with Yunho. The two seemed to be holding a silent conversation as if debating just how much information they should divulge. After a moment, Seonghwa's eyes closed.

"Detective Kim, I see no reason not to inform you of all that I know regarding your case. I think it's only fair to you. Before I start, I want to let you know that unfortunately I do not know the identities of your attackers at this time. What I'm about to tell you is all that I know, and nothing less."

Hongjoong uncrossed his arms, moving to cradle his bad arm against his chest to ease some of the pain. "Alright then. Spill." He said as he moved to sit down in one of the leather chairs in front of Seonghwa's desk.

Wasting no more time, Seonghwa straightened in his chair and laced his fingers together on top of his desk.

"Simply put, I was the one who found you that day. Yunho and I were walking and I noticed your limp body laying motionless in a damp alleyway downtown. Using some of the resources at my disposal, Yunho aided me with transporting you to a safer location so that we could tend to you to the best of our abilities."

Before Seonghwa could continue, Hongjoong interrupted. "Why did you leave me there alone? Why were you gone by the time I woke up? If I was still injured, then why abandon me?"

Seonghwa continued. "As soon as we arrived at the facility, we made sure that the worst of the injuries were attended to as best as we were able." After that, however, he paused.

Hongjoong raised a brow. "And? That still doesn't tell me why you abandoned me. Also, did you leave me that communicator device? How did you get your hands on that? Just who are you?"

Yunho swallowed audibly. He had never seen his boss fumble this much in front of anyone that wasn't himself or San. He was afraid that Seonghwa might truly break.

"Yunho." Seonghwa's voice suddenly cut through the air like a knife. Yunho flinched at the sound of his name. "You may leave us now." 

"What! But you were so adamant that I stay!" He practically whined, earning a stern look from his boss. A look that told Yunho that he was serious and not to try him. Yunho pouted, but eventually got up and left the office. 

Once Yunho was gone, Hongjoong spoke up again. "What, he's not important enough to hear this?" Seonghwa could tell that the detective was getting agitated, and he couldn't blame him.

If Seonghwa was being honest, there was no logical explanation he could provide without exposing himself or his organization. He had to think of something to say, and fast.

After a moment of silence, Seonghwa suddenly stood. Hongjoong was startled, but remained firm. Seonghwa knew that somewhat drastic measures might need to be taken in order to save this conversation and steer it in a direction away from where it was currently going. 

"Honestly?" He started, moving around his desk to approach Hongjoong head on. "Yes, I did leave you that communication device. The situation that I had found myself in with you was less than ideal, I will admit. There were a couple of reasons that I handled it the way that I did. But the most important part is that you're safe now, no?"

Seonghwa sat down slowly in the chair opposite of Hongjoong. The detective narrowed his eyes, but remained silent. "I really don't want to hide anything from you." Seonghwa said, his voice almost a whisper. Hongjoong scoffed, "It sounds like you're in love with me or something."

Seonghwa didn't say anything. He merely gazed into Hongjoong's eyes earnestly. Hongjoong's face fell. "Wait, you're not serious, right? You don't even know me. You've only seen me once before." He laughed breathlessly. 

"To say that it's love would betray what it is I actually feel." Seonghwa finally responded. Hongjoong's eyes shifted around wildly. He knew that he should probably feel uncomfortable with how forward the other man was being.

But at the same time, Seonghwa was kind of hot.

He internally smacked himself. 'Come on Hongjoong, where are your morals?'

"Infatuation, would be more appropriate." Seonghwa continued, bringing Hongjoong back to reality. 

None of this made any sense. Hongjoong felt like he was in a daydream. "I understand if you don't return any feelings for me, considering the conditions under which we met. I just wanted to divulge all that I knew so that you could start your investigation. If you'd like, I can write down my account so that you can take it with you back to the station."

Seonghwa moved to stand up, but was stopped by Hongjoong's hand grabbing his wrist. Seonghwa's eyes widened slightly. Hongjoong swallowed. His body was definitely moving on auto pilot. "Yes?" Seonghwa asked curiously.

"Uh," Hongjoong's mouth opened and closed, but no words came out. He blinked, flexing his fingers around Seonghwa's thin wrist. "Uh...thanks...for saving me. I guess." Ugh. That was the best he could come up with?

"Oh, sure it was no trouble at all." Seonghwa replied, but he made no effort to tear his hand away from Hongjoong's. In fact, quite the opposite happened.

Hongjoong could feel Seonghwa moving back in towards him. Getting closer. And closer. 

And honestly, Hongjoong couldn't bring himself to push the other man away.

Without a word of protest from either man, their lips touched together simply. It wasn't harsh or hurried. Just a simple peck. 

It lasted all of three seconds before Seonghwa drew back, Hongjoong instinctively leaning forward to chase the warmth that had been there a second ago. 

All at once, it hit them both what had just happened. Seonghwa hurried back around to sit at his desk while Hongjoong suddenly began fumbling with his wallet.

"U-Uh yeah! So, uh, here's my business card you can just email me all the details and everything you know about what happened and uh, yeah so, thank you!" Hongjoong practically threw the card on Seonghwa's desk and stood up to leave without another word.

Seonghwa watched him leave quietly. He picked up the business card once the other man was safely out of his office. He turned it over in his hand, inspecting it carefully. 

Part of him was telling himself that he had royally fucked that up. 

But the other part of him was telling himself that maybe, just maybe, he had a chance with the other man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyy sorry for the delay on this short chapter i got covid and have felt like hot garbage for the past week lol
> 
> also, since this story is mainly a test of my abilities to write a multi-chaptered story, it may feel a bit rushed at times and for that i apologize. i'm just so used to writing one shots that this was an experiment to see if i could chain together enough chapters for a full length story and still make it sound somewhat cohesive. so if i've done that then i would consider this story a success.
> 
> anyway, there will be more frequent updates when i fully recover :)
> 
> oh yeah, you can follow me on twitter if you want: @lomljoong


	6. The Investigation

Hongjoong mentally cursed at himself the entire way back to the station. He had started out so confident, so sure of himself at the beginning of that meeting. How could he have let himself turn to mush that quickly in front of a cute guy?

Granted, said cute guy did save him a few days ago. But he digresses.

With a new focus, Hongjoong steeled himself as he returned to the station to catch up with Mingi. He walked immediately into the IT room and, as he expected, found Mingi and Jongho still tinkering with the device from earlier.

Mingi perked up when he saw his friend enter the room out of his peripheral vision. "Hey Joong! Sorry, we are still trying to crack this thing. Who the hell has access to this kind of technology? It's like fucking Fort Knox!" 

Hongjoong sighed, "It's alright guys, you don't have to keep messing with it. I got the information I was after." At this, both Mingi and Jongho shot each other a glance before looking back at Hongjoong curiously.

"Oh yeah? Are you any closer to finding out who did this to you?" Jongho asked carefully, treading on eggshells as he didn't know what kind of mood Hongjoong was in after learning whatever new information he did.

"Not yet, the guy is supposed to be emailing with all that info soon." He replied, plopping down in the comfy leather chair in front of Jongho's desk. Mingi's brows furrowed, "If he was just going to email you all along then why did he force you to go to his place?"

Hongjoong hummed, that was indeed a good question. He thought back on the events that had transpired over the past hour. He replayed the meeting in his head and his mind came to a screeching halt when he got to the kiss. He shook his head, trying to not blush at the memory.

Mingi cleared his throat, waiting for an answer. Hongjoong shrugged. He honestly couldn't come up with a decent response. Mingi groaned at his friend's lack of response, but didn't push the issue.

Just then, Hongjoong's phone pinged indicating that he had received an email. Swallowing his nerves, he fished his phone out of his pocket and opened his email application. As expected, he had a new email from an unknown contact. The domain was unfamiliar to him, but he didn't dwell on it too much.

He opened the email and found it pretty bare bones. It was a list of names, along with the location of the alleyway that Hongjoong was found in as well as a video attachment. He opened the attachment to find that it was surveillance footage from a nearby convenience store from the night of the attack.

"How did he get all this information?" Hongjoong mumbled aloud. "What information? What is it?" Mingi asked excitedly. Before Hongjoong could reply, something about the email message caught his attention.

"No fucking way..." He said, eyes widening. "What! Come on Joong, I'm dying over here!" Mingi whined, trying to get behind Hongjoong and sneak a peek at his phone screen. Before he could see what was on the screen however, Hongjoong lowered his phone.

"I recognize these names. They're the names of some criminals that I arrested a few months ago on some misdemeanor charges." Hongjoong said. Mingi and Jongho both let out a gasp. "Do you think they targeted you specifically?" Jongho asked.

Hongjoong brought his free hand back up to rub his chin, "Possible. There's no way of knowing for sure...that is, unless we ask them ourselves." At that, Hongjoong shoved his phone back in his pocket and made for the door, but was stopped by Mingi grabbing his wrist.

"Wait! You don't know the extent of what these guys are capable of. You can't just rush in like this, or you'll just get hurt again!" Mingi pleaded. Hongjoong glanced from his wrist up to Mingi's pained expression. He sighed and let his arm relax.

"You're right. I need to come up with a plan. Sorry about that. Sometimes I let my emotions get the best of me." Mingi's expression softened. "I know, that's why you've got me here to protect you." He said, ruffling Hongjoong's hair. 

"Sorry to interrupt, but if you're truly intent on finding these guys Joong, I would suggest paying a visit to Yeosang. He's the analytics guy down the hall. He would be the best person to help you find someone." Jongho stated.

Hongjoong thanked him, then set off down the hall with Mingi in tow. As soon as they got to Yeosang's office, Hongjoong knocked three times. "Come in!" They heard a voice call from behind the door. Hongjoong turned the knob and opened the door carefully. Behind the door he found Yeosang sitting at his desk, smiling widely. "Jongho told me you were coming." He said.

Mingi tilted his head cutely in confusion. "Huh? But we were just in Jongho's office not one minute ago. He already told you that we were on our way?" Yeosang giggled, deep and sweet. "Of course. We tell each other everything." He winked as he stood up and extended his hand.

Both detectives shook Yeosang's hand, then sat down in the chairs in front of his desk. "Now then," Yeosang started, turning to Hongjoong. "Please provide any and all information you have on the individuals you would like me to find." 

Hongjoong took a moment to list off the names of the individuals that Seonghwa had included in his email. "They should already be in the database, since I know I've already arrested them and booked them in at least once before." Hongjoong knew that once he turned his suspects over to the sheriff's office, he didn't have a whole lot of access to all of their personal data. 

"Ah, here we go. Found them." Yeosang typed away furiously at his keyboard. "So, here are our options." He continued, turning his desktop monitor towards the detectives. "Here are their home addresses. But I doubt they'd be there at the moment. What you could do is send them a message asking them to meet you somewhere secure. They might be stupid enough to take you up on that offer, or they may not. Otherwise, you could try and wait at their houses undercover until they get home, but I'm not sure if we'd be able to back you up as well as we could at another secure location.

After some deliberation, Hongjoong sighed. "I guess I will go with the first option. I'll just have to make them an offer they can't refuse, and then they'll be sure to meet me at whatever location I please."

"And just what could you offer them that would be so enticing?" Mingi countered.

"Me." Hongjoong replied curtly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another short one sorry
> 
> but hey at least i've recovered from having covid. AND i have a new laptop at work, so hopefully this will go a little faster lol


	7. The Invitation

"I'm worried." Seonghwa said, biting at his lower lip. San scoffed, "Well that's the understatement of the year." Seonghwa side eyed him from his position at his desk but let it slide. San smiled leaning back on the couch in Seonghwa's office. He knew he could get away with comments like that due to how long the two had known each other.

Seonghwa turned back to his monitor and stared. "Don't stare too hard or else you'll burn a hole through it." Yunho chuckled. Seonghwa just sighed. "I don't know what I can do to help him any more than I already have without compromising anything." He stated.

"Listen Boss, we get it. You're whipped for this small detective. But sometimes you just gotta let some things go. This is his battle that you just accidentally happened to stumble into. It isn't your fight." San said. Seonghwa sighed again.

He knew San was right. He should just bow out and let Hongjoong do his thing.

But something was just not sitting right in his gut. 

He has a bad feeling about just letting this go and not even attempting to see how it plays out. 

"I'm sorry San, but I just can't let this go." He replied after a moment. San looked over at his boss like he had just grown another head. "Are you fucking crazy? I know for a fact that if you stick your pretty little head any further into this case, something bad will happen, and it will be because of you!"

Seonghwa knew he could always count on San to be his voice of reason, but this time he knew he had to follow his heart instead.

"Fine then. I won't stick my head in." Seonghwa stated coolly. San leaned forward, knowing full well that Seonghwa wasn't going to just stop there. Seonghwa clasped his hands together on top of his desk. "However,"

"I knew it!" San exclaimed. "What's the catch?" Seonghwa blinked, caught a bit off guard from being interrupted. 

"You and Yunho will go in my place and report everything back to me." He stated calmly.

"Ugh! Fine! This is going to be a mistake though, mark my words!" San spit with no real venom behind his words. Yunho simply smiled sadly, "Seonghwa, we will try our best to help. But this is going to be dangerous, I just know it." 

"Don't worry. I have complete faith in my two most competent agents. Plus you'll be armed to the teeth. I'll personally make sure nothing happens to you guys."

Yunho's brows furrowed, "And Hongjoong? Are you personally going to make sure that nothing happens to him even if you're not there physically?"

Seonghwa grinned, "Absolutely."

\-----

_To my attackers,_

_Let me start off by stating that yes, I know who you are. Did you think I wouldn't remember your faces or your names? That I wouldn't be able to track you down?_

_You made a grave mistake targeting me._

_Normally I would just have you arrested again on multiple charges. I have the power to lock you all away for a long time._

_But I have a better offer for you. It involves something that you have previously shown interest in: Me._

_If you're curious, meet me at the Extension Building down by Dock B at midnight tomorrow night. Come unarmed if you're all man enough._

_I'll be waiting._

"Hopefully that will pique their interest." Hongjoong mumbled to himself as he printed off a couple of copies of the letter, getting them ready to send out.

He knew this was going to be dangerous. They probably wouldn't come unarmed. Hongjoong knew he needed to be absolutely prepared for anything that could happen.

Hongjoong decided to contact his old buddy Wooyoung down in the Special Weapons department. They had trained at the academy together and had even roomed together for a while during training.

Wooyoung was a funny guy. He always knew how to lighten the mood while still managing to take his job very seriously. He and Yeosang had been childhood friends as well. 

Hongjoong made his way downstairs to the basement floor where most of the department's weapons were stored. The vaults down here held all kinds of weapons, from pistols and rifles all the way to weapons of chemical warfare. 

When he got to the office, he knocked once before allowing himself in. "Hello? Wooyoung?" He called out. The office seemed pretty empty. The lights were dim and nobody was at their desks.

He almost turned to leave before he heard a faint voice from one of the nearby vaults. "Over here Joong!" Hongjoong closed the office door and turned around. He saw Wooyoung's head and arm peeking out of one of the vault doors down the hallway.

Wooyoung was waving cutely at him, all smiles. Hongjoong couldn't help but smile himself when he saw his friend's familiar face. He meandered on over to where Wooyoung was. He appeared to be in the room that held most of the close combat weapons.

"What's up?" Wooyoung asked, gesturing for Hongjoong to follow him back into the vault. Hongjoong looked around as he walked in, taking in the sights of the high end, state of the art weapons stacked on the walls.

"I need The Works." He stated simply. Wooyoung froze and turned around, eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Woah, wait. Why?" He asked, worry lacing his tone. Hongjoong closed his eyes in thought.

He didn't want to divulge too much information, but he also didn't want to worry his friend too terribly much. "It's for a mission. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. I just need to make sure I'm completely armed so that I have everything I need to keep me safe. Come on, you know me Wooyoung. I wouldn't let a simple mission take me down so easily." He walked forward and placed his hand gingerly on Wooyoung's shoulder. 

Wooyoung looked curiously at his friend for a few seconds, but finally he relented. "Alright, I know you well enough to trust that you know what you're doing. Come with me and I'll get you outfitted. Is anyone else going on this mission with you?"

Hongjoong shook his head as he followed Wooyoung back to one of the fitting rooms. "Not quite. I'll be going alone. But I'll have surveillance on me, so if I need backup they'll send people in."

Wooyoung hummed. "Well, I don't think that's entirely safe for you. But then again, what do I know?" He chuckled as he ushered Hongjoong into the room so that he could begin outfitting him with the weapons he would need. 

\-----

The moon was full and bright as it shone above the dock, illuminating the water of the sea that lapped against the boats currently docked at the shore. Hongjoong tapped his foot impatiently as he stood underneath one of the street lamps, glancing at his watch. It was 10 past midnight and nobody was here yet besides himself. 

He had armed himself to the teeth underneath his clothes, which were loose and dark as to avoid immediate suspicion. He had a discreet earpiece in his left ear as well as a tiny camera implanted in the pocket of his t-shirt. He also had a small pistol tucked into his sock and a pocket knife strapped inside the band of his sweat pants. 

He was starting to think that these guys wouldn't show up when suddenly he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. His body went rigid as he saw a van pull up with its headlights off. As soon as it parked and the engine turned off, four men piled out of the vehicle. 

It was hard to discern their faces under the dim lights of the streetlights, but Hongjoong had a sinking feeling that it was indeed his invited guests of honor. He swallowed and steeled himself for a confrontation.

Everything would come to an end tonight. Hongjoong would personally see to it.


	8. The Meeting

"We're in position, Boss." San's tinny voice came over the earpiece. Seonghwa nodded, even though he knew the other man couldn't see him. "Good. Stay low. Only intervene if absolutely necessary." He replied.

Seonghwa was currently pacing his office. He was biting his nails as he kept glancing back and forth between his computer monitor, which currently showed San and Yunho's locations, and his office window. He watched as the cars sped by far below, his mind only occupied by one thought: Hongjoong.

He screwed his eyes shut and groaned, bringing his hand up to run harshly through his hair. He hated himself for falling so hard and so fast for a literal stranger. Beyond the profile that Seonghwa had found on him, he literally knew nothing about Hongjoong. 

Seonghwa didn't usually believe in fate or any higher deities, but he couldn't help but attribute his current situation to something that was completely and utterly beyond his control.

Just as he was about to lament some more on his situation, he heard some movement in his earpiece. "Boss, Hongjoong's here. It looks like he's alone, but we are sure there's some police backup nearby as our devices are picking up some faint interfering radio signals." Yunho's deep voice echoed in his ear as he relayed the information. 

"Keep your eyes on him. San, you make sure the area is secure. Be on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary and remember, only act if an emergency happens. We don't want to interfere prematurely and cause more issues than needed." Seonghwa replied.

"Roger that. Comms are going offline to keep interference to a minimum. We'll be back online if something happens." San relayed. Soon after, the line in his ear went dead.

Seonghwa sighed and went back to sit at his desk. By now he had memorized both San and Yunho's positions on the map, so he moved to bring up Hongjoong's file once more. After a moment, Hongjoong's work issued badge photo graced his screen again along with his personal information.

He allowed himself to stare at the photo for what felt like the umpteenth time. He seriously felt like a teenage girl with a crush, but honest to God he could not help himself. There was something about this man that was pulling on his heartstrings.

He knew he had to keep him safe, no matter what. He would never let those thugs hurt him again. Which is why he had sent his two best men to go watch after him. And that should have been good enough.

Right?

A frustrated scream left Seonghwa's lips as he slammed his hands down on his desk. He knew that San and Yunho could handle this. He knew it! And yet, his mind was still screaming at him.

_'The only way to truly ensure his safety is to be there yourself.'_

Without another thought, Seonghwa grabbed his coat and shut his computer down as he headed out of his office and down to the parking garage. 

He was going to personally make sure nothing went wrong.

\-----

"So! You were curious enough to come here tonight. I both applaud and pity you." Hongjoong was trying to keep his voice calm and level, but he could feel the fear coursing through his body.

He had no idea how tonight would play out. He would just have to play it by ear. 

One of the men in front of him scoffed. "Just the fact that you even had enough balls to track us down and personally invite us here yourself piqued our interest." It seemed to be only the three men that Hongjoong had known of, and luckily it looked like they didn't bring anyone else.

But of course, nothing is as it seems. Hongjoong knew that, so he tried to stay vigilant.

The same man from before continued after a beat of silence, "So why did you really invite us out here? Your note said something about you, but we know you wouldn't just give yourself over to us that easily. What's the catch?"

Hongjoong huffed and took a moment to gather all of his nerves before he started to approach the group of men slowly. "Firstly, I want to know what you lot did to me the other day. I think it's only fair that I know what happened, considering that only I had to deal with the aftermath while you assholes slipped away mostly unnoticed."

One of the other men guffawed, "Mostly? We made sure nobody saw us, so there's no way we would get caught." Hongjoong smirked, "And yet, why is it that I know for a fact that you three were the ones who attacked me? You surely wanted to make sure that I was knocked out cold, right?"

The three of them narrowed their eyes. "Ah yes, about that. We were discussing about how you found out it was us. We made sure to go to great lengths to make sure any footage from surveillance cameras was deleted."

Hongjoong interrupted him before he could continue, "But why? Why go to such great lengths for me? Why me?" His voice was beginning to waver, adrenaline pumping through his veins getting him wound up.

The first man who had spoken chuckled. "Don't you remember us, _Detective?_ " He sneered the last word. Hongjoong's brow furrowed as he brought his arms up slowly to cross them on his chest. 

"Of course I do. I arrested you three criminals a few months ago on a slew of felony charges. But are you all really that petty to try to get revenge on me for that? Surely that wasn't the first time you guys had been arrested."

The men visibly tensed at that statement, "What are you implying?" One of them asked, voice tense. Hongjoong racked his brain to try and come up with a witty response, but the words were just not coming to him.

After a moment of silence, the group of men started advancing on the detective. "You weren't stupid enough to come here by yourself, right?" The man in the middle asked incredulously. 

Normally, Hongjoong wouldn't even bat an eye at these criminals. He's dealt with so many dangerous individuals in his career that this sort of routine is normal for him. However, the knowledge of what these men had already done to him, and subsequently what they are capable of doing to him now, had the detective on edge more than usual.

The men stopped about five feet in front of Hongjoong, the latter of which stood firm and tried not to retreat on instinct when being approached. The man in the middle, who appeared to be the group's spokesman of sorts, sported a wicked grin.

"Do you really want to know what happened to you that day in the alley?" He asked, his voice dripping with sleaze. Confusing even himself, Hongjoong moves on autopilot as he slowly nods his head. He wasn't sure if he was truly ready for this information, but there was a part of him that nagged at him to hear this info so that he could finally start to move on from the incident.

The man in the middle let out a loud laugh as he eyed Hongjoong up and down, as if his eyes were undressing the detective. Hongjoong shivered under his intense gaze, but he remained silent.

"Imagine our surprise walking down the street when out of the corner of our eyes we spot one little detective who had fucked us over before. Sure, you're right that we've been arrested before, but unfortunately you just happened to catch us on a bad day that time. So when we saw you innocently strolling along the sidewalk, we thought that it was high time for us to take back control and turn the tables. We wanted to exert control and power over the law enforcement officer that had bested us previously."

Hongjoong swallowed but didn't say anything, waiting for the man to continue. 

"So we quickly came up with a plan to exact our revenge, and we used our combined knowledge to ensure that there wouldn't be any evidence left behind. Luckily for us, you were out of uniform and completely caught off guard when we snatched you off the street and into the alley. Our men made sure there were no witnesses around, and any stragglers were compensated well for keeping silent."

The detective's hands began to shake minutely. His mind was beginning to get hazy as blurry memories from that day began to flood his brain. 

"Of course, in the beginning we had only planned on roughing you up a bit. You know, some punches and kicks and that would be about it. But sometime during that scuffle, one of us came up with a grand idea. Why hurt you in just a one dimensional way when there were so many options available to us that we hadn't even thought of exploring?"

The man's smirk grew wider, if that was even at all possible. "So naturally, we decided to have a little fun with you."

Hongjoong's stomach dropped.  
"After we had roughed you up a bit, you were too weak to put up a fight. It was all too easy to rip off your bloody clothes and fu-"

"That's enough."

A loud, commanding voice cut through the night air. Hongjoong froze in place. He recognized that voice.

As if appearing from thin air, a tall figure began walking slowly out of the shadows and towards the group illuminated by the street lamps overhead. Hongjoong's heart skipped a beat as he saw a familiar, handsome face come into view. 

The group of criminals scowled at the unwanted intruder. "And just who the fuck are you?" The man in the middle of the group sneered.

Seonghwa chuckled, "My name is of no importance. I am merely here to observe and intervene should things get out of hand."

Hongjoong audibly exhaled, "Thank you for your concern, but I can handle this myself." He spoke, trying hard to keep his voice from trembling.

Seonghwa directed his gaze to the smaller man questioningly, but remained quiet.

One of the men in the group scoffed, "Well we don't take kindly to unwanted intruders into our affairs. You got a death wish or something?" The man brandished a pocket knife and pointed it directly at Seonghwa.

Seonghwa merely smirked, "I'm not afraid of you, if that's what you're expecting." He crossed his arms and stood firm, shoulders set in a dominating stance. 

This answer pissed the man off. He then turned his attention back to Hongjoong. "What? Too scared to come by yourself?" 

The detective puffed his chest, "I didn't ask him to come! Plus, I asked you all to come unarmed but that obviously didn't happen. So I guess we're even then, huh?"

The man in the middle of the group grinned, "No, I don't think so." He took a moment to glance around at his surroundings before shrugging. "This is dragging on too long. You promised us something in that letter you wrote us, and we're gonna take it."

At that moment, the group of criminals started advancing toward Hongjoong. Just as the detective was about to call for backup, Seonghwa whipped out his pistol and pointed at the group of men, who froze.

"As I stated, I am here to intervene should things get out of hand, and that appeared to have been imminent should I have let you all come any closer." Seonghwa stated coolly.

The leader of the group sighed, "This is getting annoying now. I don't remember allowing you to meddle with our affairs. Time to end this." 

He pulled out a pistol of his own and pointed directly back at Seonghwa, the pair now frozen in a standoff. 

Hongjoong secretly radioed for assistance, hoping the signal got to Mingi in time before any tensions could boil over. After the signal was sent, he carefully approached Seonghwa's side.

"Woah, wait guys. We don't need to resort to this. We're all adults here, right? Surely there's a better way to resolve this." Hongjoong says, hoping he can placate each party.

One of the men scoffs, but Hongjoong doesn't see who it is. "Sure, hand yourself over to us and we'll leave peacefully. The man then moves to grab Hongjoong, but Seonghwa is not about to let that happen.

He fires a warning shot into the air. The man balks and glares at the taller man. "Do not lay a finger on this man." Seonghwa says, his voice low as he looks down upon the man in front of him. 

One of the men behind him suddenly starts yelling, "Shots fired! No more holding back!" Before anyone else really knows how to react, all of the men save for Hongjoong are brandishing a weapon. 

In a flash, another one of the men is upon them with his gun pointed three inches in front of Seonghwa's face. Hongjoong's mind suddenly goes blank as his body seems to move on its own. 

Without thinking, Hongjoong quickly grabs the man's arm to tear his gun away from Seonghwa's face. This catches the man off guard, and he can't seem to help when his fingers accidentally pull the trigger. 

The shot rings out in the dead of night. Everybody freezes. 

Hongjoong lets out an agonized cry as he grasps his abdomen, falling to his knees. His vision blurs as he tumbles face down against the cold concrete below.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *posts this and runs*
> 
> no but seriously i'm sorry for the delay :(
> 
> I work at the local health department helping the community get free covid tests and as you can imagine we are very busy lol. 
> 
> I should be wrapping this story up soon though, so please be on the lookout for that :)


	9. The Aftermath

Seonghwa had experienced a lot of death over the course of his life. He had seen people get stabbed, shot, drowned and even asphyxiated. He had made peace with death a long time ago, and he wasn't afraid of it.

Now, however, he could feel his heart completely stop as everything seemed to play out in slow motion. 

As soon as Hongjoong hit the ground, something inside Seonghwa snapped. He threw his arm up and screamed, "Out! Now!" Within seconds, Yunho and San swooped in and surrounded the group, both heavily armed.

The group of men pointed their weapons right back at the new intruders. Seonghwa's face was contorted in rage, so severe that neither San nor Yunho had ever seen their boss like this before.

"Kill them all!" Seonghwa screamed as he dropped to his knees to tend to Hongjoong. His friends eyed him curiously as the criminals visibly tensed, never once letting their weapons waver. 

"I don't think that's a good idea, boss." Yunho braved to say. "Why don't we just call an ambulance for him and we can make sure they don't get away?"

Seonghwa was seeing red by this point. His mind was hazy and it kept repeating the same mantra. _"Kill. Kill. Kill."_

He had never allowed his emotions to get in the way like this. He almost couldn't believe the effect that this detective had on him. Within just a few days, he had managed to plague almost all of Seonghwa's thoughts.

He was never this sloppy. But he guessed that love was a powerful thing. 

Love.

Did he love him?

Seonghwa didn't have any time to dwell on it as his mind overtook his body and he pointed his gun towards the group of people in front of him, his muscles moving as if on auto pilot. 

"Wait!" San and Yunho yelled in unison as they could see what was about to happen. 

They weren't fast enough, however, and Seonghwa began to fire with reckless abandon. His mind didn't care where or who they were shooting. It only knew to Kill. 

In a panic, San and Yunho quickly moved to extract the group of men and try to get them out of the line of fire. He couldn't escape totally unscathed however, and Yunho ended up with a bullet wound in his right shoulder. 

Seeing their opportunity, the men tried to escape towards the city but were almost immediately cut off by a fleet of squad cars that sped up and blocked off the exit from the pier.

Sensing they were completely cornered, the men conceded and stopped running. A red haired cop stepped out of one of the police cars, gun drawn. "Put your hands above your heads and don't move!" He yelled in a deep, booming voice.

The men complied, albeit begrudgingly. As they were being accosted by the police, Mingi broke off from the group and ran towards where Hongjoong was laying limp in Seonghwa's lap.

"Hongjoong! Why on Earth did you decide at the last minute to come here without the weapons that Wooyoung had prepared for you? Are you out of your mind? Wha-" Mingi was abruptly cut off when he took in the condition that his friend was in.

The detective was bleeding out from his left side, the man above him trying desperately to stop the bleeding with a makeshift tourniquet he had crafted out of part of his own shirt. "Call a fucking ambulance!" Seonghwa bit harshly in Mingi's direction.

Mingi brought his radio up to his mouth immediately and radioed for medical assistance. Once the report had been confirmed, Mingi dropped down to his knees to help Seonghwa stop the bleeding. 

"You're gonna have to tell me what the hell happened here." Mingi spat, his anger mostly directed at the outcome of the situation rather than at Seonghwa himself. The mafia boss didn't answer right away, his mind was too preoccupied with making sure Hongjoong was safe.

Right when Mingi was about to repeat himself, Seonghwa opened his mouth and replied. "Later." Mingi glanced between him and Hongjoong worriedly, but let it be for now. 

A few moments later, the ambulance showed up. Seonghwa breathed a sigh of relief as the large vehicle sped through the parking lot towards their direction. As soon as the paramedics were loading Hongjoong onto the gurney, Seonghwa's mind began to clear a little bit.

It was only at that time that he noticed Yunho off to the side clutching onto his bleeding shoulder. Seonghwa's heart dropped as he rushed over to his friend's side. "Yunho! What happened? Did I do this to you? I'm so sorry!" He rushed out, nearly stumbling over his words in his haste to help his friend over to the ambulance. Yunho grunted, but managed to smile a little bit, "It's okay boss. I know you weren't in a great headspace when this all went down. It just goes to show how much you care about that little guy."

Seonghwa's brows furrowed as he was about to question what exactly Yunho meant, but they were soon cut off by the paramedics rushing over to tend to Yunho's injury. Seonghwa let go of his friend as the taller man was rushed to the ambulance to get treatment. 

It took less than a second for Seonghwa to make up his mind on what to do next. Immediately he rushed over to the ambulance just as they were loading both Yunho and Hongjoong up. "I'm going too." He stated simply, moving forward to get up into the vehicle.

Mingi, who was standing nearby, scoffed. "Woah wait, hold on. No you're not. Your guy doesn't need an escort and plus there's probably not enough room in the ambulance anyway."

Seonghwa was about to retort when Yunho interjected. "Hey, can you make an exception for him please? He's been through a lot." Mingi eyed the strange (but beautiful) man warily, but eventually shrugged and looked over to the paramedics, who said it was okay.

Without sparing Mingi another glance, Seonghwa climbed up into the ambulance and the doors shut behind him. The vehicle lurched as it began to speed off toward the hospital, leaving Mingi and his crew behind to clean up the mess. 

Yunho was having his shoulder tended to by a paramedic as he watched Seonghwa worriedly. His boss never took his eyes off of the unconscious detective the whole ride there. 

Once they arrived, Seonghwa glanced at Yunho as if unconsciously asking permission to go with Hongjoong. Yunho nodded and smiled sadly. He knew his boss was in over his head with this one. He just worried about what the future might hold for the two of them. 

\-----

Hongjoong groaned, every inch of his lower body hurting and his head feeling like it was going to burst at any second. It took a monumental effort to try and open his eyes and keep them open, the bright lights above him making it extremely difficult to do so.

He tried to rack his brain as to what had happened that had landed him in this...place. He still wasn't exactly sure where he was yet. All he knew was that it was very bright. 

His brain wasn't cooperating with him, however, and he couldn't quite remember what had happened to him. He blinked a few times before his eyes finally adjusted to the bright florescent lights of the room.

He tried to sit up, but his body was fighting against him. His limbs felt like lead and as much as he tried, he couldn't move them on his own.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw someone move towards him. His vision was still pretty blurry, but he could make out a mop of dark hair and a black shirt. The person started talking to him, but he couldn't make out what they were saying as it sounded like the person was underwater. 

His mind was racing a mile a minute as he tried to address the person above him, but his voice wasn't coming out. His brows furrowed in pain as the person helped him to sit up as gently as they were able to. 

It took probably another full minute for Hongjoong's senses to all come back in full force. Once his vision returned fully, he glanced over and saw that it was Seonghwa who had been the one to help him. 

Hongjoong opened his mouth to address him, but Seonghwa shushed him before he could say anything. "Please. Let me." Seonghwa's silky smooth voice felt like heaven in his ears. Hongjoong shut his mouth and nodded at Seonghwa to continue.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush with this, because that's just not who I am. I take full responsibility for messing up the meeting last night. I inserted myself into your affairs when you didn't ask me to and because of me both you and Yunho were hurt." 

He paused to gauge Hongjoong's reaction. The detective was eyeing him curiously, remaining silent to allow Seonghwa to continue. The mafia boss took a deep breath before talking once more.

"I feel like it's only fair that I come clean about who I really am. I am the leader of just one of many factions of the Korean mafia. I handle many affairs ranging from international trade to all kinds of domestic affairs. Many would say that I am a dangerous man. I have killed before, and I am not afraid to kill again."

Another pause. Hongjoong stayed silent. 

"Hongjoong, I need to be honest with you. All my life I've felt this nagging sense of loneliness at the back of my brain. Sure, I've had my closest workers by my side. Some would even consider them my friends. And while I have enjoyed their company on many occasions, there is still a void in my heart that they couldn't fill, no matter how much love they showed to me.

The first time I saw you, I was floored for many reasons. To be frank, on any normal occasion I would not have paid your unconscious body any mind. But the moment I laid my eyes on your face, something inside me changed. Even though you had been through a great deal of pain and trauma, there was something about your face that seemed serene, even if just in that moment."

Seonghwa knew how awkward he sounded, but at this point his brain-to-mouth filter was malfunctioning. He knew that if he didn't lay it all out on the table now, then he would never get a chance to again. 

"As cheesy as this sounds, and as much as I tried to convince myself that this wasn't true, the fact of the matter is...I love you, Hongjoong. I fell in love with you the moment I saw you, and trust me I know that sounds so fucking wrong considering how I first encountered you.

But then when you visited me in my office and I got the chance to actually speak with you, I knew my feelings were set in stone. This is so very wrong, and I understand that someone like you would want to have nothing to do with me after all that I've told you and all that you've been through. I just wanted to air it all out so that there wouldn't be any questions left once we parted ways."

There was a beat of silence, Seonghwa looking anywhere in the hospital room except for Hongjoong's face. He almost wanted to laugh at himself. He had faced countless criminals, warlords, drug ring leaders and other dangerous people over the course of his life. And yet, nothing had ever made him feel more nervous than right here in this moment.

Seonghwa heard Hongjoong inhale deeply and exhale. He closed his eyes, readying his heart for the inevitable rejection he was about to face. As much as it would pain him, Seonghwa knew that Hongjoong would never be able to be with him. They were from two different worlds. Some would even go as far to say that they were destined adversaries. 

Hongjoong let out a breathless chuckle. "As...crazy as this sounds Seonghwa, I actually feel the same way." Seonghwa's eyes nearly bulged out of his head at that. No way in a million years did he expect that Hongjoong would return his feelings. Hongjoong shook his head in disbelief as he continued.

"When I first came to your office and I saw you for the first time, I felt something change within me as well. Would I call this destiny? Or fate? I'm not sure, but hearing you say these things makes me feel a whole lot better about how I've been feeling as well."

Hearing this, Seonghwa raised his head and his eyes met Hongjoong's. They stared deeply at each other for what felt like an eternity, each of them studying the other's features as if committing them to memory.

"Do you think we're moving too fast?" Hongjoong asked after a few more minutes. Seonghwa tore his gaze away from the detective's face and stared out the window behind him. "Some would say so. But I have to know...I have to know that you're serious about this before I commit myself to this...to you." Seonghwa's voice was near a whisper.

Hongjoong's shoulders sank a tiny bit, "Honestly Seonghwa, I'm not sure that this can work out, but I'm willing to give it a try if you are." He gave the other man a tiny smile. 

Seonghwa's face broke out into a wide grin, "I'd like that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> almost at the end babyyyy


	10. The Lovers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we have finally reached the end ;;
> 
> thanks for sticking with me through this. sorry if the story seems a little wonky. i promise i will work on my writing style and try again soon.
> 
> tags have been updated

Two weeks had passed since Hongjoong had been discharged from the hospital. Seonghwa had given him his personal contact info and left him with a longing look in his eyes. Hongjoong's thoughts had been plagued with the handsome man ever since.

Now, standing in front of the door of a luxurious penthouse at some late hour of the night, Hongjoong swallowed nervously. He had called Seonghwa as soon as he had been discharged and, after a few polite conversations, Seonghwa had provided him with his home address and asked for him to come visit.

Hongjoong normally might have questioned how easily Seonghwa divulged his private information to the detective, but he had a gut feeling that Seonghwa had no ill intentions with him. After everything that had happened, Hongjoong felt compelled to trust him wholeheartedly. 

After building up his nerves, Hongjoong finally reached forward to knock. However, before his hand could make contact with the door, it opened suddenly to reveal Seonghwa standing in the doorway. Hongjoong's brain short circuited for a second because the other man looked so good. 

Seonghwa's hair was unkempt, like he had just rolled out of bed. He had on a simple white t-shirt and black basketball shorts. He looked so casual, the complete opposite of what Hongjoong knew him like. Seonghwa smiled warmly at him and Hongjoong knew in that instant that he was a goner. 

"Please, come in." Seonghwa gestured and held the door open for Hongjoong to step inside. Once he was inside, Hongjoong gawked at the interior of the penthouse. It looked ostentatiously wealthy, with marble flooring and high vaulted ceilings. There was even what looked like a diamond chandelier in the middle of the damn living room.

Seonghwa rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "I promise I'm humble." He said, chuckling. Hongjoong broke out of his reverie and glanced at the other man. "Usually humble people don't brag about being humble." He said, a smile dancing on his lips. Seonghwa grinned back at him and suddenly reached out to wrap his arms around Hongjoong's waist.

The detective gasped in surprise as he let himself be twirled around by the taller man. The two men laughed and danced all the way down the hallway, until suddenly they were in what appeared to be the main bedroom. There was a large, four post king size bed with black duvet that looked way too comfy. There wasn't much in the room in terms of furniture save for a single bedside table and a black wooden dresser on the opposite wall of the bed. There was also a single window on the wall opposite of the bedroom door with large, blackout curtains drawn so that little sunlight was allowed in. 

Before he knew what was happening, Seonghwa was drawing away from Hongjoong to walk towards the bedside table and Hongjoong found himself already missing the feeling of the other's hands on his waist. Seonghwa flipped on the single lamp on the table and the room was flooded with a dim light. The entire atmosphere seemed very...sensual. Hongjoong's heart started beating faster as he watched Seonghwa walk carefully back over to him. 

Seonghwa took Hongjoong's hands into his own and slowly walked the two of them over to the large bed. Hongjoong sat himself up against the headboard and Seonghwa sat in front of him on the edge of the bed. The two sat in silence for a few minutes, each of them trying and failing to find the right words to say to convey their true feelings in this moment. 

Finally, it was Seonghwa that broke and finally addressed the elephant in the room. "Hongjoong, please tell me if this is moving too fast for you, but I don't want to hide anything from you either. I want you. That's really all there is to it. I want you...in a more intimate way than anything we've had up until now." Seonghwa looked so small in this moment, Hongjoong noticed. He was laying his feelings on the line and putting himself out there in the hopes that Hongjoong reciprocated his feelings.

Hongjoong gave a breathless laugh, "Seonghwa, we've been moving too fast since the moment we first met. Trust me, if I didn't want any of this I would have left a long time ago." Seonghwa stared intently, quietly asking for Hongjoong to give him more than that. 

Hongjoong felt his face heat up at the implications but he shyly continued, "I...want you too. In that way." Seonghwa's expression softened and he shifted on the bed to inch closer to the other man. "Please Hongjoong, I need your verbal consent. I don't want to do anything without your permission."

The detective felt his breath hitch as his brain was suddenly bombarded with the memories of those criminals and what they did to him. Even though he still couldn't recall exactly what had happened to him, he knew enough to know that what had happened to him was despicable and he shuddered thinking about it possibly happening to him again. 

Seonghwa noticed the visible change in Hongjoong's demeanor and immediately reached out to bring the other man against his chest in a warm hug. Hongjoong struggled to stop his shoulders from shaking as he allowed himself to be pressed against Seonghwa's broad chest. 

A hand came up to card delicately through Hongjoong's hair as the detective was finally able to calm himself down after a few moments. Once he had stopped shaking and his breathing was more regulated, instead of pulling away he snuggled closer into Seonghwa's warmth. 

Seconds melted into minutes as Hongjoong soon began to feel sleepy in the other's cozy arms. Seonghwa chuckled as he felt Hongjoong's breath evening out against his neck. He gently laid the smaller man back on the bed and crawled on top of him, balancing himself on his elbows on either side of Hongjoong's head. 

Hongjoong's eyes were droopy as he looked up warmly at the man above him. The two of them shared a loving gaze as Seonghwa gently lowered himself down and connected their lips together softly. 

The two of them sighed in tandem as they kissed lazily, their lips moving against each other slowly. Seonghwa's hand returned to pet through Hongjoong's hair as his other hand began trailing down Hongjoong's chest. His sweater was suddenly becoming too hot and Hongjoong squirmed around to free himself just enough so that he could take off his sweater and toss it aside. 

Seonghwa smiled and mirrored the action, throwing his t-shirt in the same direction of Hongjoong's sweater as he sat up and straddled the other's waist. Seonghwa's gaze turned dark as he eyed Hongjoong's bare torso hungrily. The smaller blushed and looked away shyly. Seonghwa brought his hands to Hongjoong's chest and began running them up and down his chest.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Seonghwa asked again, wanting to make absolutely sure that Hongjoong was comfortable with where this was headed. Hongjoong nodded and gripped the duvet underneath him, trying not to let on how ticklish he was. "Yes, I'm sure." He replied, his voice near a whisper. 

Seonghwa smiled and brought his hand up to rub Hongjoong's nipple between his thumb and forefinger. Hongjoong gasped and let out a high whine as his hands shot out to grab onto Seonghwa's forearm. "Does this feel good baby?" Seonghwa asked teasingly, putting more pressure on the sensitive nub. 

Hongjoong began thrashing underneath him, "Y-Yeah, it does...ah!" He yelped when Seonghwa suddenly leaned down and took the other nipple into his mouth and lapped at it with his velvety tongue. Hongjoong's hands found their way into Seonghwa's hair and he gripped onto it for dear life as he tried not to scream out in over-sensitivity. 

Unknowingly, Hongjoong had began pushing down on Seonghwa's head, and the other seemed to get the message and obliged happily, crawling down until he was face to face with Hongjoong's clothed erection. Hongjoong gazed down at the other with hooded eyes. Seonghwa kept eye contact as he carefully began palming the other's hardness through his clothes. 

Seonghwa watched with rapt attention as Hongjoong began to unravel underneath his touch, squirming and whining as he was being teased by the older man. Seonghwa finally took pity on the other man and removed his hand to begin undressing them both completely. 

As soon as the both of them were completely nude, the gravity of the situation finally hit Hongjoong. He was about to let this man make love to him. This, by definition, criminal. He knew that his moral compass was broken by this point, but he honestly didn't care. He wasn't sure if what he felt for Seonghwa was love, but it very well could grow into love if left unchecked. 

Yet again, Hongjoong didn't care if that's what happened. Deep down, he kind of wanted that. 

He wanted to fall in love. He wanted to be cared for and have someone be there for him every day with open arms and unconditional kindness. If that person happened to be Seonghwa, then Hongjoong definitely wouldn't complain. 

Seonghwa's eyes were glazed over with lust as he took in the man beneath him. Hongjoong felt shy again under the intense gaze, but this time around he was completely prepared for what was going to happen next. 

Which is why Hongjoong didn't even flinch when Seonghwa leaned forward and began rummaging around in the bedside table for lube. As soon as he found it, he wasted no time in coating his fingers and inserting his middle finger in to Hongjoong's hole. The smaller man whined high and loud as Seonghwa began working his finger in and out, curling and uncurling to help loosen his lover up. 

Hongjoong suddenly had half a mind to slap his hand over his mouth to keep himself quiet. Seonghwa chuckled and used his clean hand to gently tear Hongjoong's hand away. "It's okay baby, there's nobody else here. I want to hear you." Seonghwa's voice was smooth as he inserted another finger effortlessly, eliciting a choked out moan from Hongjoong's red lips, still slightly swollen from their earlier kiss. 

Seonghwa was careful as he stretched his lover out. He wanted to make sure that Hongjoong would be able to take him comfortably without any pain. 

Seonghwa had caused so much pain to others already during his lifetime. If he could now choose to cause pleasure instead, he would seize the opportunity in a heartbeat, and that was exactly what he was doing now. 

The older man was brought out of his small reverie by Hongjoong's needy whines reaching his ears. Seonghwa chuckled, "Ready, my love?" Hongjoong's blush deepened at the cute term of endearment. He didn't trust his mouth to form coherent words at the moment, so he simply nodded in reply. 

Hongjoong's body felt electrified as soon as Seonghwa brought the tip of his cock over to line up with his empty hole. He had to stop himself from just pushing down to spear himself open on Seonghwa's cock, but he was just so excited.

It was finally now starting to set in that yes, this was really happening. Everything had happened so fast and it all felt so surreal to Hongjoong, and yet here he was about to get railed by the hot mafia boss who had fallen in love with him at first sight. Hongjoong couldn't stop himself from grinning dreamily at the thought. 

He was a bit too distracted by his thoughts, however, to notice Seonghwa begin to push his hard cock into Hongjoong's warm inviting heat. The sensation of being split open knocked the air right out of Hongjoong's lungs. He was struggling to focus on Seonghwa's soothing words that were being whispered in his ear as the pain started taking over all of his senses. 

"Shh, baby. It's okay. You're okay. I've got you. I promise." Seonghwa started petting his hair gently and peppering small kisses all across Hongjoong's face. After a few moments had passed and Hongjoong began to adjust to Seonghwa's size, his breathing calmed a bit and Seonghwa's words finally registered in his brain, effectively turning it to mush. 

"Can I move, baby?" Seonghwa asked quietly. Hongjoong squeezed his eyes shut and nodded quickly. Seonghwa planted one more chaste kiss on Hongjoong's lips as he leaned back and began fucking in to his lover at a relatively moderate pace. 

Hongjoong couldn't help the noises that fell from his mouth as Seonghwa pounded into him just right, hitting his prostate on every other thrust. Hongjoong's whines and moans only fueled Seonghwa on further, letting out low growls as something possessive came over him.

He knew that Hongjoong had to be his. He couldn't let anybody else have him.

This thought plagued Seonghwa's mind as he silently shouted _mine. mine. mine._ in his head and began speeding up his pace, fucking into Hongjoong with wild abandon. Hongjoong's moans soon turned to shouts as he felt himself nearing the edge.

"Ah! Ah, S-Seonghwa...'M gonna cum, ah!" Hongjoong could barely get the words out before his neglected cock began spurting cum all the way up to his chest. This caused him to clench around Seonghwa's cock, driving the older man to chase after his orgasm as well. 

The two groaned in unison as Seonghwa filled Hongjoong up with his cum, the younger basking in the warm feeling of feeling full. They stayed together for another moment, simply taking in each other's presence as they came down from their high.

Finally Seonghwa pulled out, making Hongjoong whine high and loud at the sudden loss of contact. Seonghwa inadvertently grimaced at the sight of cum and lube leaking out of Hongjoong's ass straight onto his clean bed sheets. 

Hongjoong laughed weakly at his face, "Sorry, but really it's your fault." He said lightheartedly. Seonghwa smiled and leaned down to kiss Hongjoong once more. The kiss was passionate, and it conveyed all of the unsaid feelings Seonghwa had for the handsome detective. 

After about 30 minutes and some decent cleanup, the two found themselves snuggled up under new sheets on Seonghwa's bed. Hongjoong had his head snuggled up in between Seonghwa's neck and shoulder, his arms slung over the older man's thin waist. Both of their legs were tangled together as the TV played softly in the background. 

"You know this is going to take time, right?" Hongjoong's voice mumbled against Seonghwa's neck. "Nobody is going to accept us right away. I'm not sure if I'll even be able to keep my job after this gets out." 

Seonghwa smiled and planted a kiss on top of Hongjoong's head. "I understand, but for you I'm willing to do anything."

Hongjoong didn't reply, but Seonghwa could feel the other's smile against his neck as the two drifted off to sleep together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come talk to me on twitter ^^
> 
> @lomljoong


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